--By Angila Sharma

 

With customer data base of 40,000 users within less than three years of its starting operation, sastodeal.com is being rated as one of the prominent rising star of online retail shops of Nepal.  The company says it is receiving the same number (40k) of orders per month on its portal and even more on its Facebook page. This is despite the fact that their focus till now is mainly on Kathmandu valley only. The company was started by a group of youths 2.7 years ago with the aim of switching the existing offline Nepali market to online and providing the best deals.With more and more Nepalis going online and ever increasing engagement on social media channels, their idea of online shop paid off well. Building on this successful business mantra that harnessed social media benefits to its fullest, they introduced Sasto Book within a year of establishing Sasto Deal. Both of these companies have been doing excellent business, say the company founders. The two units employ 30 youths and provide training to around 12-15 interns every three months.

 

Though there are many similar online retailers in Nepal, Sasto Deal’s founders credit their unique business culture and customer hospitality as the key to their success. It treats its customers, who are mostly working age people, as friends rather than clients and strives hard to set itself apart in every section of the sales-funnel services. 

 

The Beginning

When Amun Thapa, CEO of this company, returned from the United States of America, he felt a strong need to start up his own business. While this entrepreneurial feeling was brewing in him, he figured out that Nepali people had been wasting some really useful hours in shopping and hunting best deals. “I found people lingering around different shops in search of different items. I asked myself if everyone was doing the same and the answer was yes. No one was doing anything to address this situation and I figured out a solution for it,” says Thapa. He roped in his school mates, who then were pursuing their academic degrees in the IT field. These friends contributed in maturing the idea of an online store that offered the best products at the cheapest prices in town. This is how it acquired its brand name—SastoDeal (Cheap Deal). 

 

Sasto Deal is now a renowned and a well-established company making hundreds of deals every day. However, the journey had an initial bumpy ride. It was very difficult for them to win the confidence of traders, suppliers and consumers. “People laughed at our idea of online business and we had to go out to the market begging for deals. But now, the same people are begging us to feature their products,” says Thapa proudly. He believes that the initial phase was difficult for them because online business was a new term to this part of the world and also because consumers and suppliers are equally sceptical and find it difficult to trust new comers. 

 

Sasto Deal has been able to provide goods in a relatively cheaper rate compared to the market price by compressing retailer’s margin by tapping higher levels of wholesalers and traders. On the other hand, the company benefits retailers by featuring their products on their online shop for free and taking their marketing budget off their shoulders. “This is a win-win situation for customers as well as sellers,” says Avash K.C, social media maven of the company adding they do not provide discounts on products, rather their marketing channel reduces product prices. 

 

CSR 

KC has a different perspective towards CSR activities. He says that CSR activities are marketing strategies of companies, and so they are not for purely philanthropic purpose.  However, the company has been financing education of two poor girl children. The girls were previously studying in a government school and now, they are studying in a good private school, he informed. The company considers this as an achievement and does not prefer to label this as CSR act but purely an act of compassion. 

 

Recent Initiatives 

The company has recently come up with a project named ‘Machan Bata Herda’. It is collaboration between it and the Machan Wildlife Resort and will be organising a photography competition with the theme- ‘finding nature in an urban jungle’. This competition is basically a way of encouraging anyone who has an interest in photography.

 

 

Business and Future Endeavours

Being the leaders in their business, the company has been experimenting on different business models. The first experiment they tried was to switch the offline market to online. While the company featured products online, they also kept some sample pieces at the office. They succeeded on this model and now are planning to open a showroom somewhere in Durbarmarg. Thus, the company is planning to expand its business offline as well.

 

Along with that the company has plans to expand the business to other cities as well. “Right now, we are planning to extend our services in Pokhara, Dharan and Butwal and in the near future in USA as well,” says Thapa.